


Your Future In Mine

by itsmehelenn



Category: TWICE (Band), 未来日記 | Mirai Nikki | Future Diary, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Established YoonMin, Eventual Romance, M/M, and death, but there is violence, eventual angst, kind of, not graphic, slow burn?, some violence, warning: character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-10 08:01:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13497914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmehelenn/pseuds/itsmehelenn
Summary: Taehyung’s keeps track of his emotions in the Notes app on his phone. Jungkook just writes what he observes. It shouldn’t matter what they choose to write about until one day, it does.And from then on, their fates rest within each other’s hands.(Borrowing story elements from the anime Mirai Nikki (The Future Diary), but you do not need to know the anime to understand the story.)





	1. Let's Play A Game

**Author's Note:**

> There’s really not much I need to preface. If you don’t know Mirai Nikki and are here for the VKook, then hi! Welcome! I hope you enjoy, and I hope I did a good job with my exposition.
> 
> If you’re a Mirai Nikki fan and don’t know who VKook are, then I’m happy you still clicked and gave me a chance. I hope you still enjoy yourself :)
> 
> If you’re a fan of both Mirai Nikki and BTS then wow let’s be friends.

Deus Ex Machina was a God that resided within Jungkook’s imagination, borne of his loneliness, a representation of that literary fault which grants protagonists miracles in times of need. He always assumed that this God was a clever trick of his mind, a defense mechanism keeping him from feeling the effects of being an outsider amongst his peers.

He had another defense, too, for he was an outsider in his own body. During the day, when Deus Ex Machina was invisible to him, Jungkook fancied himself an observer. He carefully documented the events of his day, no matter how small or insignificant, but kept a safe distance between those events and himself. By keeping track of his life as though he were an outsider looking in, he was able to protect himself from the unwelcome feelings of desolation and despair.

The God would ask, “Yes, how was your day?”

And Jungkook would look at the notes on his phone and see that Hyunwoo and his friends had teased him in homeroom, that some random kid shoved him in the halls after lunch (the food had been nothing spectacular, as always), that a stray cat had followed him for a couple blocks on the walk home. “It was ok, I guess.”

Deus asked often why he didn’t record any of his own feelings, claiming that doing so might help make things more bearable. But Jungkook would just smile and shrug, “That’s why I have you, right?”

Everything changed when Jungkook woke up one morning and found notes in his phone that weren’t written by him. _What, am I texting in my sleep now?_ At 7:14AM, he saw that cat from yesterday. It meowed at him. At 7:39AM, he ran into Hyunwoo and his friends at the back entrance of the school. They beat him up. At 8:21AM, he had a pop quiz in math. The answers were A, D, D, C, B, A, A, C, D, B.

It was currently 6:47AM.

“No way…” It couldn’t be possible. And yet, when Jungkook saw the cat and checked his phone, it was 7:14. An accurate prediction, but by what? Had his diary become sentient? _No...that stuff only happens in stories._

He pinched himself. It wasn’t a dream.

In light of his phone’s apparently accurate prediction, Jungkook chose to enter the school from the front entrance. It was 7:40 when he checked his phone and he found that the note about Hyunwoo had been rewritten.

_[7:39AM] I entered through the front entrance. Hyunwoo and his friends are nowhere to be seen._

Jungkook felt like he was about to throw up.

-

“It’s Friday, January 19th, 2018. 6:15PM.” He was lying on his back, phone held carefully between his hands, muttering to himself as he typed. “Feeling good today. Nothing too unusual happened. I’m happy.”

Well, nothing unusual, unless he counted that story about some girl in one of his intro classes getting murdered by the local serial killer. That’s all the news stations have been talking about: the killer. Some students had even stopped showing up at school for fear of running into the guy. Taehyung couldn’t bring himself to care.

Scrolling through the rest of the notes he’d made that day, Taehyung could confirm that it had been a decent day for him. At lunch, his mood had dropped, but the next entry thirty minutes later claimed that he was back in good spirits. There was nothing to be worried about. He was happy. His diary said so.

“Ah, but Taehyung...you aren’t so gullible to fall for your own tricks, are you?”

”You know, for an imaginary friend, you’re kind of a dick, Deus.”

The god only hummed in what might have been agreeance, saying no more.

The following morning, Taehyung woke up to a string of notes on his phone detailing his emotions for the entire day. He didn’t have to write a single entry by himself that day, for he found that at every interval, his diary was correct.

-

Over the next couple days, Jungkook grew used to the knowledge that he held the future in his hands. His diary was writing itself, telling him of good fortune and warning him of danger. In school, he was able to hold his head up a little higher, walk with more purpose in his step. His phone had become a cheat sheet for his life and with it, nothing could faze him anymore.

Of course his classmates noticed that the quiet kid who sat in the back of the room, who had no friends to speak to or of, had changed. They whispered about him as he passed them in the halls and watched his actions carefully from a distance. No one could understand why Jungkook was suddenly acting as though he owned the place, no one could fathom how he kept managing to avoid the traps they set for him.

And then the words _DEAD END_ appeared in his phone. At 3:40PM, he gets cornered by a serial killer when he tries to hide in an old, abandoned apartment complex. Dead End.

-

_[3:20PM] I’m feeling uneasy. I hope things turn out ok._

_[3:26PM] My heart is pounding. I should run. Am I happy? DEAD END._

He’d been staring at his phone for the past five minutes. The time read half past one. Only two hours to go. There were no other entries past the dead end.

And here he thought today was going to be another good day.

Deus had always wondered why Taehyung didn’t bother writing down the events that caused his mood to change and Taehyung had always given some vague answer about the events not being as important as the outcome. All he needed to know at the end of the day was whether or not he was happy, he didn’t need to know why. Being happy was all his mother had ever wanted for him, after all.

But now that his phone was able to tell the future, he saw why Deus had always seemed conflicted about his decision. Sure, his phone could tell him what he was feeling, but what use was that when he didn’t know how to prevent this...this “dead end” from happening? Sure, he didn’t know exactly what a dead end meant, but given that his phone had stopped reporting new entries, Taehyung thought he could guess.

When his class let out at 3:15, Taehyung took a right turn out of the Humanities building instead of left. If he didn’t head home like he always did, perhaps he could change the future. His diary must be expecting him at the dorms right after class, like always. If he wasn’t home at the time of the dead end, maybe he could avoid it altogether.

The path he ends up taking has him passing through old, run-down neighborhoods that his parents had always told him to stay away from. He walks faster because of the unfamiliarity and the deathly still air, the haunted eyes that seem to follow him from the shadows. The notes on his phone still tell him that at 3:26PM, he’ll reach a dead end.

It’s 3:25 when Taehyung hears a strangled scream from an alleyway, hears something hit a wall and hurried footsteps drawing closer and closer until a boy bursts out of the darkness, something wild in his eyes as he barrels towards Taehyung. The boy’s lips move in some kind of warning, but Taehyung doesn’t hear him, only sees what the boy is running from. His blood runs cold and he feels like a deer caught in headlights. He should run. He should turn around and run but his legs are frozen in place.

“Run, you idiot!”

A hand closed around his wrist and Taehyung found himself stumbling after the boy from the alleyway. His phone vibrated in his pocket and there was the sound of static. Over his shoulder, he could see a hooded figure running after them. _Dead end._

-

The boy with the messy brown hair was pulling him into an abandoned complex and the two of them were climbing up the stairwell by the time Jungkook remembered his Dead End. He paused three steps short of the third floor, pulled his phone out. Sure enough, he would still be facing a dead end in an abandoned apartment.

“Hey! Why’d you stop? Come on!”

What was he supposed to say? No, they should get out of here because his phone can tell the future and it says that this is a dead end? _This has to be a dream._ There was no way anyone in their right mind would believe him if he just told them his secret outright. But he couldn’t just let them get cornered here. He wouldn’t allow himself to be the reason for an innocent’s death.

“Woah...you got one of those, too?”

When Jungkook looked up, the brown haired boy was leaning over his shoulder, much too close for comfort. His eyes were shining and Jungkook watched, frozen, as the boy slipped his own phone out of his pocket and held it out to him.

“You delayed my Dead End. Thank you...”

“Jungkook.”

“Thank you, Jungkook.”

-

“So he’s supposed to catch you - us - on the fourteenth floor. What if we just don’t go to the fourteenth floor, then? Stop earlier?”

It seemed like much too easy a solution, but it wasn’t as if Jungkook had any other ideas. Huddled in the far corner of a run-down apartment, the only source of light filtering through the curtains hanging over a double-paned window, Jungkook opened the notes on his phone with the expectation that his fate would have changed the way Taehyung’s had earlier.

 _What?_ He rubbed at his eyes. This wasn’t real.

When Taehyung asked him what was wrong, he shoved his phone into the other boy’s hands and covered his head with his own. _This isn’t real._ He was only eighteen! He wasn’t ready to die.

_[3:40PM] The serial killer finds Taehyung and I in room 1023. He stabs me. DEAD END._

“How is that possible?” Taehyung whispers. Jungkook doesn’t answer. “It didn’t even get delayed.”

For a while, neither of them spoke. There was a slight draft coming from the windows and the old building shuddered at the mercy of a particularly strong wind. The time was 3:36PM. Three minutes until Jungkook’s dead end, four until Taehyung’s.

Somewhere outside the apartment, at the end of the hall, a door squeaked on its hinges as it was pushed open. Jungkook could feel Taehyung’s eyes on him. The killer was coming.

He stood, ignoring the other boy’s weak protest, and moved towards the door. He wasn’t going to be a sitting duck. There was still a chance for them, after all. If Taehyung’s Dead End could be delayed, then who was to say that their Dead Ends couldn’t be erased altogether? His diary could still tell the future. All they had to do was play their cards right.

3:37PM. Taehyung was standing next to him, so close Jungkook could feel the other’s breath on his neck when he spoke, “What if the killer has one of these future diaries, too?”

The look Jungkook gave him must have been ridiculous, because the boy rolled his eyes and huffed, leaning in ever closer to whisper in his ear. “Think about it. Why else would your Dead End not be delayed? Your diary was certain that he would corner us on the fourteenth floor, but then the moment we decided to stop on the tenth…”

3:38PM. The footsteps drew closer.

“What do you propose we do?”

“I don’t know, but maybe if we can get a hold of his phone, he won’t be able to keep tabs on us anymore and we can get away.”

“His phone, then. Got it.” It was 3:39, now or never.

Jungkook pulled the door open before Taehyung could so much as take another breath, poking his head out into the hall. The killer was only a couple doors down, dressed from head to toe in an outfit of black. He was looking down at his phone in one hand, a knife held loosely in the other. Either he had the exact number of the room they were hiding in, or he was just bypassing the other rooms for the sake of it. Given how specific Jungkook’s own diary had been thus far, he was willing to bet that Taehyung was right about the killer being one of them.

Before the killer could spot him, he pulled back into the room. His heart was pounding. He didn’t need to read Taehyung’s diary to know that the other boy was just as nervous as he was. Reaching out blindly, he found Taehyung’s hand and squeezed it, feeling the tension building in both of their frames. He wasn’t going to let them die like this, not in a shitty, decrepit apartment.

His phone vibrated. The notes changed.

_[3:40PM] The serial killer finds Taehyung and I in room 1023.  
I meet him at the door. He’s left-handed and he aims for my chest. DEAD END._

So when the door opens again, Jungkook is ready. The fear and adrenaline pumping through his veins makes him stronger, more alert, and he reaches for, grabs, the killer’s wrist before the knife can come down. Even behind the mask, Jungkook can tell that the man was surprised and before either of them could make another move, Taehyung darted forward, wrenched the phone out of the killer’s right hand, and sent it flying.

Jungkook didn’t know what exactly possessed his new friend to throw the phone at the window, but that decision was what saved them that day. The phone broke through the glass and fell ten stories to the pavement below, shattered on impact, and when it did, a black hole appeared in the killer’s chest. Jungkook let go and stepped back just in time to see the darkness expand, spinning as the man’s body collapsed in on itself. When it was over, there was nothing left of the killer besides his knife, clattering as it hit the hardwood floor.

 _[3:40PM] The serial killer finds Taehyung and I in room 1023._  
I meet him at the door. He’s left-handed and I catch his arm before he can stab me.  
Taehyung grabs the killer’s phone and throws it out the window.  
The killer is gone.

__

__

_[3:40PM] My whole body is shaking, my heart is pounding out of my chest. I’m so scared, what do I do?_  
God, my nerves are shot through.  
Calm down, Taehyung… It’s over. I’ll be ok.

-

It was a like a clock, the way they were arranged, one person marking each hour. Taehyung couldn’t make out who the others were, saw them only by their silhouettes, shrouded in some smoky, dark purple substance. Given what he could see, Taehyung would guess that this giant contraption was floating somewhere in the sky, too far up to be visible to human eyes.

Then again, with Deus sitting on his throne up above, perhaps none of this was real. He could just be dreaming again (and maybe he would have tricked himself into believing that he was dreaming if it weren’t for the reality of the future diaries and his encounter with the killer who vanished into thin air).

Twelve positions around the clock. Taehyung was second and he knew without knowing that Jungkook was first. The third spot was empty, the rest filled with people of all shapes and sizes. Fifth looked like the silhouette of a child.

“Second...your death at the hands of Third was written in stone.” Taehyung instinctively took a step back as Deus’ came down towards him, the God’s large, boney face twisted in some semblance of suspicion and respect. “Yours, too, First.” Taehyung wondered if they were feeling the same rush of adrenaline as the God towered over them, but Jungkook held his ground. “But miracle of miracles, you’ve reduced the verdicts to mere scribbles in the sand.”

“In any event, your beginnings bode propitiously.” There were murmurs amongst the other nine people standing around the circle and Deus settled back into his throne, spreading his arms. “Lo! He who weathers the vicious onslaught shall win a throne incomparable! Indeed, he will succeed me!” The murmurs died quickly and even though it shouldn’t have been possible, it felt to Taehyung as though the temperature had dropped ten degrees.

“Bearing the mantle of space-time as its reborn god. Look around you, eleven only remain. Henceforth, consign mercy to the outlands of your warrior’s heart and vie for control of the universe.”

On the other side of Jungkook, Twelfth’s silhouette flickered and disappeared. The others followed suit, some of them calling out sarcastic wishes of good luck to First and Second, though Taehyung paid them little mind. He had an advantage in this game already just by knowing Jungkook and having been through a near-death experience with the guy. When all the other players had gone off and Deus declared the meeting adjourned, Taehyung turned towards Jungkook’s silhouette and reached out his hand.

“When we get back out there, find me. Please.” He couldn’t fathom going into this death game alone.

Before Taehyung could even finish his sentence, Jungkook had grabbed his hand, holding it firmly even as their astral projected bodies began to disintegrate.

“I will. First thing.”

-

They lived in the same city, but very different lives. Taehyung, in his second year of college, spent his days seeking happiness. From people, from substance, from natural highs - of these he made no distinction. He was obsessed with the concept of happiness, which he often mistook for being the same as fulfillment, and it was this misconception which kept the empty void within him alive and well.

Jungkook was in his last year of high school. It should have been the best year of his high school experience and it would have been, had this city and its people not been foreign to him. He lived alone - their family only had enough money for one of them to go to city and his parents had decided to send him. With no family and no friends, Jungkook only ever left his apartment to go to school or buy groceries..

Meeting Taehyung was a blessing in Jungkook’s mind. They may only have become friends because of Deus’ game, but they were friends. Taehyung gave him a place to go that wasn’t school or home, offered him easy box smiles and a cure for his loneliness. Had his diary not started writing itself, Jungkook guessed that he would have abandoned it. With Taehyung in his life, he no longer wished to be a mere observer of his existence.

For Taehyung, Jungkook only differed from his other friends because of how they’d met. Not everyday someone saves you from a gruesome death at the hands of a serial killer. And it wasn’t everyday that you get the good fortune of being thrust into some sort of survival game with that very same someone. If he didn’t take advantage of that, he’d be an idiot.

So yes, Taehyung had asked Jungkook to find him and the younger boy had done just that. What he hadn’t expected was for them to hang out so often. It seemed that every afternoon he stepped out of his class and found Jungkook standing there, small smile on his face, shuffling his feet. For two weeks, their friendship grew over cups of coffee in quaint cafés and walks in the park and Taehyung found that he was starting to look forward to the younger’s presence.

In class, he found himself occupied with thoughts of getting coffee with Jungkook and showing him the city. His doodles came out in strange likeness to Jungkook’s face. He wanted to bring Jungkook to the planetarium.

He left the building that day in a rush, smile already plastered across his face, anticipation in his throat and excitement on the tip of his tongue. “Jungkook! Have you been to the planetarium yet?!”

But all he got in response was a couple confused glances and the whistling of a passing breeze.

-

Something was off, of that Jungkook could be certain, but he couldn’t quite place a finger on it. His diary reported his day as usual, peeking ahead a couple minutes, a couple hours, into his future and scribbling down observations. In the two weeks since that meeting with Deus, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, aside from a couple changes in Jungkook’s schedule involving a certain Kim Taehyung. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping to get out of that relationship just yet, but he knew for a fact that he was happier because of it.

And being so happy, he could almost bring himself to ignore the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever he checked his phone for updates. He knew he shouldn’t be relying so heavily on the diary to plot out his actions for the day, but there was still that lingering fear that he might show up outside Taehyung’s class one afternoon and find that the older boy didn’t want him there.

For the past two weeks, Jungkook’s phone had encouraged him to meet up with Taehyung whenever possible and it was usually in the morning hours that he would receive some mention of the boy by name, at which point he would feel free to space out during classes and anticipate the final bell. Today, there was no mention of Taehyung in any of his entries. What more, his entries were all painfully mundane. Even before his diary had started telling the future, his life had been more eventful than this (not in a good sense, really, but there was at least more to his days than listing off what classes he had in what order).

It was about halfway through the lunch period that Jungkook’s phone finally delivered what it had been holding back all day.

_[2:50PM] I left Taehyung’s present inside. Heading back now.  
A guy enters the room after me. He’s a diary user, too. He says he’s Ninth._

_[2:52PM] Ninth tells me he knows I’m First.  
I grab the nearest chair to fend him off when he gets close. He jumps out the window._

_[2:53PM] An explosion goes off two rooms down the hall. I run._

A few seconds go by, then his phone spits out a final entry.

_[2:57PM] I try for the stairs on the second floor. An explosion goes off. DEAD END._

-

_[3:15PM] I’m scared. Or nervous. Both._

_[3:17PM] Oh thank god…_

_[3:18PM] What is he doing? Jungkook!_

“Jungkook?” Half of the school was gone at this point. The police were surrounding the perimeter and no matter how Taehyung begged and pleaded, they would no sooner let him in on what was going on than let him on the high school grounds. He was left to shoulder his way through the crowd gathering behind the yellow tape, ducking under cameras and phones of people standing on tiptoes, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Kids were being brought off-site by police and firefighters, fear and confusion evident in the way they held themselves, huddled together and quivering. The school building itself was two steps away from being reduced to nothing but fire and rubble, a pitiful sight and Taehyung was yet to find out who was responsible for all this ruin.

At the front of the crowd, Taehyung could see Jungkook stumbling through the main entrance after his classmates, looking frazzled, but no more worse for the wear. Even from a distance, Taehyung could tell that there was something… _off_. His classmates were shocked and confused, but Jungkook was neither. The fear that took hold of him was of a different breed, a more dangerous one.

“Jungkook!” The younger boy turned towards him and Taehyung was about to say something else when a police officer grabbed him by the shoulder and pointed him towards the other side of the school.

“Sir, if you’re here to pick up someone, please go around to where the students are congregating. We’re just trying to make sure everyone is accounted for.”

Taehyung is only allowed to take Jungkook out of police custody by pretending to be a distantly related cousin. It checks out, since the records did show that none of Jungkook’s most closely related family lived anywhere close to the city and, with Jungkook’s affirmation, the police were willing to allow an older cousin to act as a guardian.

“So what happened?”

Jungkook hummed, hands in his pockets, eyes on the ground as they walked. There seemed to be some renewed distance between them now and Taehyung wasn’t sure how he felt about it. “...Terrorist bomber. His name’s Hoseok. Jung Hoseok. Been in the news a couple times, on the wanted list. He’s Ninth.”

Taehyung stopped walking and Jungkook turned to face him. There was silence for so long that Jungkook almost broke it first, but then Taehyung was grabbing the younger boy by the shoulders, voice low and nearly indiscernible. “You mean to tell me that you almost reached another Dead End? Ninth was trying to kill you. And I-” He trailed off, dropping his hands to his sides. What was he thinking? He wasn’t responsible for Jungkook in the slightest. There was nothing he could have done, anyway.

“I’m fine, though, aren’t I?” Jungkook was smiling sheepishly, hesitant as he reached for Taehyung’s hand. “Look, I know you think your diary is useless, but you still knew to come for me, right?” When the older boy didn’t respond, he sighed. “Ok, seriously? Let me see your phone.”

Taehyung was slow to hand the device over, watching cautiously as Jungkook read through the notes. “Look!” The screen was shoved in his face and he tried to focus. “Look at these! ‘ _Oh my god_ ’? ‘ _What is he doing_ ’? How many times do I have to tell you this for you to know it’s true?

Your diary doesn’t just record your emotions. It records your thoughts! Maybe you didn’t realize this before when you were writing in it yourself, but you _have_ to realize that your thoughts and emotions are tied to one another! Can’t have one without the other.”

“...I guess.” Taehyung took his phone back, sticking it in his back pocket. Jungkook was right. He knew that Jungkook was right. His diary was the Intuition Diary, Deus had referred to it as such. With it, he knew of all of his future thoughts and feelings as a result of events. His weakness was that he wouldn’t know what these events were until they came to pass. “You’re right.”

Jungkook’s diary was the exact opposite. It was the Indiscriminate Diary, the one that recorded all of the happenings around him and none of his own reactions. This was the real reason they were sticking together, the real reason Jungkook stuck to him like a barnacle after school every day and Taehyung allowed it to happen. Nothing else was happening between them. Nothing.

Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself to keep himself sane.

“Yeah. I’m right. So you’re treating me to coffee today.”

As he watched Jungkook’s retreating back, Taehyung couldn’t help it if he felt a tightening in his chest, a smile tug at his lips. There was something about that boy that made him happy in a way other people and objects couldn’t.

_[3:47PM] Only one of us will be alive at the end of all this. Am I happy?_


	2. A Game of Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To win this game, you have to be willing to kill. Taehyung isn't sure if he's up for that just yet.  
> All things considered, things could be going a lot worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy (late-ish) Valentine's Day! So I was originally planning on this being a three chapter fic, but I'm two chapters in and haven't even introduce Yoongi and Jimin yet so I'm saying, tentatively, that it's going to be four chapters.  
> We will definitely see Yoonmin in the next chapter. If we don't, I give up trying to control anything in this story.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

There was a brightness within Taehyung that had been extinguished by the relentless toil of a life that couldn’t give all that he wanted. Every time Jungkook looked into those warm brown eyes, every time he was blessed with the barest hint of a genuine smile, he felt as though Taehyung was holding back. That, or he had had something stripped away. There was a dull, aching pit where there should have been fire.

He thinks he’s catching a fleeting glimpse of that fire now as Taehyung waves his arms while he speaks, eyes sparkling with hope. Across the table, a man dressed much too well for this dingy little cafe nods along as Taehyung talks. The booth they’re in is small and Jungkook finds it difficult to focus with Taehyung’s thigh pressed against his, arms invading his personal space with every other word.

“Well, I’m certainly glad you think so, Second. I think we can get much farther in this game if we work together.”

Taehyung frowns at the name, wrinkling his nose. “Call me Taehyung.”

“Alright, Taehyung. But I doubt there’s anyone in this game who doesn’t already know your identity.” The man spares a glance for Jungkook, shrugging his shoulders. “Or yours, Jungkook.”

“What about your identity, Fourth? If you go around calling us First and Second, it’ll only be a matter of time before you’re discovered, too.”

The man laughs and Jungkook can’t help but frown. He hadn’t said all that to be funny. “Fair enough, kid.” A business card is slid across the table and Jungkook lets Taehyung pick it up. “Call me if you have more intel. I’ll reach out to you if I find anything on Ninth.”

Kim Namjoon was a detective with the local precinct. Ninth had been on their radar long before this death game began and now that they could confirm that Jung Hoseok held a future diary, it became imperative that he be apprehended as soon as possible. Jungkook wasn’t sure how he felt about Namjoon sniffing them out just from a couple of news reports, but he supposed he should just be glad that the man seemed to be on their side. Namjoon had claimed that he had no interest in succeeding Deus’ throne. Jungkook wanted to believe him.

“This is great!” Taehyung certainly seemed to believe him. In that case, it only seemed right that Jungkook be a little bit suspicious. It was better to be safe than sorry. “Now we know the identities of four players, including ourselves. And can you believe Third was a professor at my university? A professor out there killing people...god, it’s like we’ve been cast in some horror movie or something.”

Jungkook smiles and watches as the business card disappears in Taehyung’s pocket. _If only all this were nothing more than a horror movie._

-

Taehyung can’t remember exactly when he and Sana became friends, but he knows that he wasn’t the one who initiated it. The girl had plopped herself down next to him one day in class and the rest was history. Somewhere along the way, a quiet girl named Tzuyu had joined them in the same row of the lecture hall and Taehyung had been too distracted by thoughts of Jungkook and Deus’ game to stop and wonder if the two girls had diaries, too.

If he had been thinking clearly, he might have thought it strange that the pretty Japanese exchange student had taken a sudden interest in him after five months of being in the same class together and never saying a word.

If he had been thinking clearly, he might have thought twice before accepting Sana’s invitation to hang out at her place on a Friday night, might have gotten up and left at the first sign of trouble, but he didn’t. When Sana pulled him down on the couch and kissed him, Taehyung didn’t hesitate before kissing her back. He wasn’t interested in her, but she was pretty and she was willing and that was enough for him.

They were half naked with lips swollen and breathing labored when something vibrated on the floor and Taehyung pulled back, peering down at a bright screen. Sana let out what might have been a breathy laugh, tugged at his arm and demanded his attention, but there was something written across the top of Sana’s phone that made Taehyung’s blood run cold.

_From: Tzuyu Be careful. It says that he leaves safely at 11:27PM. No dead end, though._

The screen went black and Taehyung wrenched himself out of Sana’s grip, stumbling as he half-fell off the couch and reached frantically for his clothes, finding his phone in his jacket pocket and clutching it to his chest. Sana sat up, a slight downturn to her lips, looking and acting much too calm for Taehyung’s liking. _She was going to kill me._

“Guess I forgot to put my phone on silent.”

There was nothing Taehyung could say to that. He forced a smile. Sana didn’t move as he put his shirt back on, shrugged his jacket over his shoulders and stood. She didn’t say anything until he was halfway out the door and when she did, it only inspired him to move faster.

“You can’t get away from me, Tae. Wherever you run off to, I will know.”

_To: Jungkook Are you awake?_

-

“So you think this girl is a diary user?”

“She was texting Sana about me, Jungkook. About what I was going to do in the future! And she mentioned Dead Ends!” Taehyung was leaning across the table, stage whispering, as if there was anyone else in the cafe at a quarter to midnight who might eavesdrop on them. It might have been comical, Jungkook thought, if they weren’t sitting here talking about how Taehyung’s latest hook-up was trying to kill him.

“Ok, ok...so she...Sana? Sana said you can’t run away.” Her name tasted bitter on his tongue. “We’ll just have to wait for them to come to us. Kill them first.”

“Yeah, well, what if only Sana comes after us? We shouldn’t kill her if Tzuyu’s the diary holder.”

“Right.” Jungkook had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something he might regret. It made sense. They shouldn’t kill civilians, they had no reason to kill anyone except diary users, but some part of him wanted to yell at Taehyung for refusing to harm Sana when it was so clear that she would slit his throat at the first opportunity. “Then we incapacitate her. Make her tell us where Tzuyu is.”

Taehyung was frowning at him now, but he voiced no objections and Jungkook took that as agreement.

“Whatever happens, we just have to make sure we come out of it alive.”

-

It was 2AM and Taehyung was sitting on a lone bench in the park when he saw Sana again. He watched her approach, a small smile playing at his lips. She waved. The whole situation felt strangely domestic, as though they were lovers meeting up for a date, perhaps to stargaze, perhaps just to walk.

“Took you long enough to get here.” Taehyung stood, placing his hands on his hips, box smile lighting up his face so well it almost seemed real. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show.”

“Ah...how rude of me. Have you been waiting long?” Sana passed under a streetlight and something glinted by her hip. She’d come prepared, but he’d expected that.

“No, not at all.” Ten feet. Five. Three. Then, she was right in front of him. “Besides, I had company.”

By the time Sana could process what he had just said, Jungkook was behind her and the handgun at her hip was gone. There was a moment of silence where all they did was stare at each other and breathe, then Sana took off running.

“Hey!”

-

_From: Tzuyu Sana? Are you ok?_

__

__

_From: Tzuyu Sana answer me! What happened?_

Her breaths came in shallow and fast and her heart was pounding painfully against her ribcage, but she managed to type out a response without her hands shaking too much. Taehyung was Second. Sana was certain of that. But the other boy...she’d never seen him before.

_To: Tzuyu I’m ok. Tae had help. Some dark haired boy, about the same height as Tae._

Hidden in an alleyway at 2AM with two people after you was not how Sana had thought she’d be starting her day. When she and Tzuyu had come up with the plan, it was assumed that they’d be done by midnight. Second would be dead and they’d be one step closer to godhood, to paradise. But now?

Tzuyu was typing. Sana could see her typing. Her fingers were gripping the device so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Tzuyu was still typing.

Then she stopped and Sana waited and waited and waited and...nothing.

_To: Tzuyu Tzuyu?_

Two minutes went by. No response.

_To: Tzuyu Tzuyu, are you ok?_

__

__

To: Tzuyu Tzuyu please answer

_To: Tzuyu Tzuyu??_

-

When they found Sana again, she was emerging from the shadows of an alleyway, something wild and unsettled in her eyes that had nothing to do with their presence. Jungkook’s gaze was burning into his skull. They had been prepared to face the Sana who was ready to take their lives, not this Sana. Not this Sana, whose skin was pale and whose hands were shaking to the rhythm of some internal beat. Her eyes met Taehyung’s and for a second, time stopped. She opened her mouth, then closed it, and then she turned and ran.

“Come on.” Jungkook was after her before Taehyung could even acknowledge what had just happened. Nothing good would come out of following Sana, of that much he could be certain, but he also couldn’t let Jungkook go after her alone. She was still dangerous. Even like this, _especially_ like this, she was dangerous.

If Sana knew that they were following her, she made no indication of it. They almost lost her multiple times to shortcuts that only she knew, but Jungkook was nothing if not adaptable and all Taehyung really had to do was keep track of him.

The condo they came upon was small, inconspicuous, standing squat and firm under yellow streetlights. The walls were peeling and the door, when Sana tore through it, squeaked miserably on its hinges. Jungkook came to stop in front of it and Taehyung was annoyed to find that he didn’t even seem to be out of breath. Jungkook was looking at him again, but Taehyung’s eyes were fixed to the dark windows of the condo. Something wasn’t right.

“What do you-”

Jungkook was flinching before he could finish the question. A cry came from inside, a hysterical, arching cry that made Taehyung’s blood run cold with dread. Something was terribly wrong with this night. Something had _gone_ terribly wrong.

Jungkook was telling him that they should leave, they shouldn’t investigate this anymore, and he was right. Taehyung knew he was right, and not just because of the advantage Jungkook’s diary gave him. But the fact that Jungkook knew at all what was going on in the house meant that they were supposed to see it go down. It was with a heavy heart that Taehyung pushed open the door to the condo and went in.

-

Sana’s blood was on his hands, the same way Third’s death was on his head. It made it no less painful that she had asked him to do it, it made it feel no less wrong. But there had been desperation in her eyes as she sat there on the carpet, blood that was not her own pooling around her knees, cradling Tzuyu’s head in her lap.

No. It wasn’t the desperation he saw that pushed his hand. It was the defeat.

Sana was Tenth and with Tzuyu dead, there was no longer any point in vying for the title of God. The divine can solve all woes and cure all plagues, but even they cannot bring back the dead. Their dreams of paradise died with a bullet to Tzuyu’s head.

So Taehyung took Sana’s handgun with shaking hands and pulled the trigger.

-

There were ten of them left in the game. Deus held weekly meetings with all the players remaining to...well, Jungkook wasn’t really sure what the point was. Every week, he and Taehyung showed up, Deus made some redundant speech about the end drawing near (as if they couldn’t all already tell from the pieces crumbling off of Deus’ skull), and a lot of the other players made promises that they would find Jungkook and Taehyung and kill them. Soon.

All things considered, Jungkook supposed his senior year could be going worse.

Or, so he had thought.

_[3:27PM] There’s a knock on the door. It’s the police._

-

“Chou Tzuyu, age 18, freshman in college. Nationality, Chinese.” Namjoon pointed to the picture of the girl on the screen. “She was killed, shot in the head, last night in her home on the west side of the city.” The screen changed to show pictures of two boys and for a moment, Namjoon may have wavered, but the thought of Seokjin alone in the hospital pushed him onwards. It wasn’t right, but it would bring him one step closer to finding a cure.

“These are the prime suspects: Jeon Jungkook, age 18, and Kim Taehyung, age 21. Find them and bring them in.”

There was a chorus of “Yes, sir!”s and the room emptied. Namjoon took his time shutting off the projector, cleaning up his files and tidying up the chairs before shutting the lights, heading back to his office. He had been in this line of work for three years and he’d seen his fair share of blood and guts, but it wasn’t quite the same when you were the one pulling the trigger. Tzuyu hadn’t suspected a thing. But then, she hadn’t been the diary user. That had been a misjudgement on Namjoon’s part and if he could go back and undo her death, he would.

But one good thing did come out of it all. Had Tzuyu really been the diary user, her body would have disintegrated upon death and there would have been no grounds upon which to prosecute First and Second. Not this early, not this easy.

First and Second were goners tonight. Then, it would just be seven people standing between him and godhood. And he already knew where to find Ninth.

-

“Taehyung?” Seeing Taehyung at the station with him was accompanied by an intense wave of uneasiness. Being apprehended by himself could mean any number of things, but nothing terrible. Jungkook wasn’t in the business of illegal activities. But to be held for questioning with Taehyung could only mean that something bad was about to happen. The only people who would associate the two of them together in such a manner were those coming for their blood.

“Don’t worry, Jungkook-ie. This is Namjoon’s precinct, remember? I’m sure he’ll get us out of this.” Taehyung’s confidence only served to fuel that pit of dread building in Jungkook’s stomach. Chances were higher that Namjoon was the reason they were here at all. He had known from their first meeting that there was something not quite right about the detective’s story. Everyone had something to lose. There was no way Namjoon was just content with the knowledge that he would die before this game was over. There was no way he was so willing to give up the chance at eternal life and divine power. If even a terrorist bomber like Ninth wasn’t willing to risk his life, then it was only safe to assume that Namjoon wasn’t, either.

But he wasn’t going to say that out loud. Taehyung was always so hopeful. If there was even the slightest chance that Taehyung was right and Jungkook was wrong, then he would take it. He didn’t want to worry Taehyung if he didn’t have to.

“Taehyung? Mr. Kim would like to see you now.” Taehyung looked at him with knowing eyes, as if to say, _See? It’s Namjoon._ Jungkook smiled at him. The uncertainty must have shown in his eyes because Taehyung frowned as he left and Jungkook saw him reaching into his pocket before disappearing down the hall.

That feeling of uneasiness continued to grow. Jungkook pulled out his phone, trying to ignore the chill in his veins as he scrolled through his notes. There had to be something in there that could help him.

-

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Jung Hoseok. I’m here to make a deal with you.”

Now, it wasn’t every day that Hoseok got a visit from the police and they weren’t trying to arrest him, so he opened his door a little wider.

“Ten seconds, Detective. Then I’ll decide if I can let you in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was that? Hopefully not terrible.  
> I might have added more to this chapter, but I wanted to get it up before I leave on vacation, so...this is what you get.  
> Leave a comment if you feel like it! I love hearing what you think, even if you hated it :)

**Author's Note:**

> Of course, credit to Mirai Nikki (anime) where due. The future diary/death game idea is all theirs. I have taken some creative license, but have also borrowed Deus’ lines during the first meeting between all the players directly from the English Dub.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I love you for making it this far. Please do comment your thoughts, whether good or bad! I’d love to hear from you :)


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